Don't Tell Her I Told You

A long time ago, Jeff (the 2nd husband of my step-mother twice removed, if you can follow that) taught me something about cars. I don't remember the circumstances beyond the fact that we were passing the old department store in downtown Hartford which is now a community college, and I was driving a stick-shift while he was in the passenger seat - which is actually a highly unusual set of circumstances. Anyway, he said that if the car is moving at all, even rolling gently down an incline, do not shift into first gear. First is for shifting out of, not in to. I have no idea why that stuck with me.

So I think I've mentioned that Tasha has been having frustration as she masters her manual transmission. She generally tries whatever she can to swap cars with someone else, or get a ride, or talk someone into driving for her - anything to avoid having to deal with the clutch. But this week is her call to glory; she has to get some places on her own, and has to use her own car to do it. Apparently she made it to her class meeting okay this morning, because she called to let me know that her engine light is on. (It's been on; Rick thinks its just an electrical short and he'll get to it as soon as possible.) Also, she had a lot of trouble shifting into first a few times, and really had to push it. I suggest that she double clutch - put it into neutral, let out the clutch, put the clutch back in, and then shift to first. She said she'd tried that, but still had trouble getting into first gear. Besides, she didn't think she should be messing around with the clutch too much on the highway. It seems our baby girl was trying to shift into first gear at about 35 mph, coming out of a 55 mph speed zone and slowing down for a roundabout. I explained to her about not ever trying to shift into first when the car was already moving, and that the car had been trying to tell her this when it balked.

I think I should get extra credit for not laughing until I hung up.

Stealthy

Marilyn thinks the most discrete place to be

is tucked into the vegetation near the garage.

Goliath and Lulabelle agree.

Roadblocks

You wouldn't think something like this would be intimidating. I mean, you're looking at some luscious wool, all paid for and ready to rock, which is intended to be the anniversary prayer shawl. The buttery yellow is being used for the center panel (already done) and strips of embossed leaves on each of the ends; the fun variegated stuff will be the leaf lace in between.
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But I keep worrying that the panels will pucker when I join them, whether that's done by picking up stitches or seaming the individual pieces. And I found the leaf lace pattern to be just frustrating enough during the swatch process that I keep putting it off until I can give it my full attention. And in the interim, I keep making dishcloths. I don't need dishcloths right now, although somewhere in about the middle of the third one I rationalized that I could send them to camp with Tasha this summer. And I'm using a yarn that, along with a solid red, made a beautiful "tomato plant" colored shawl last summer. (Trust me; it was pretty. The lady who bought it liked it so much that she came back to the booth two weeks later and asked me to duplicate it for her friend, who otherwise was threatening to steal the original.) But without the strong red undertones from the accompanying plain red yarn, it's pretty wild stuff that would probably stand out in most settings. (Okay - stand on the furniture jumping up and down and screaming.)
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Anyway, I've finished three cloths in various basic patterns, and have promised myself that I will not start a fourth until the shawl is done. (It's due in 3 1/2 weeks!) I have choir tonight, but should be able to get a good start on it after work on Thursday. I'll keep you posted.
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And under the category of "Rick Appreciation": Luc's replacement car is now on the road. I'd show you a picture, but Luc was off with it to work the morning after we flew in, and has driven it to class or work every day since. It still desperately needs an alignment, but I believe Luc is planning to dedicate his next paycheck to that. I had a quiet conversation with him this morning to remind him to take his time, be safe, file a flightplan, etc. Hopefully this one will last him a good long time.

And on to the next one: Tasha's Celica is now officially in work. Rick is a bit grumpy that Tasha hasn't been appreciating his efforts enthusiastically enough. I mentioned to her last night (and

she agreed) that regular doses of brownies and freshly-brewed iced tea should be administered throughout this process.

Duke to Dutch Heart Transplant

Rick says to me, "Don't you want to come out to the shop and photograph the heart transplant for your blog?"

Later he says, "I think you'd better come out and take pictures soon, while you've got the best light. (Oh, and then I need you to steer while I push.)" I think he's starting to like the idea of this whole blog thing.

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And something under the "Twilight Zone" category:

As we were tucking Duke back into an outdoor spot and getting ready to drive Dutch into the garage for her part of the transplant surgery, a pick-up truck drove by the house reeeal slow. No biggie - I mean, there were two idiots pushing a car wreck around on an ice-covered driveway, and it was probably a good show. But a few minutes later I hear "crack! crack!" I look down the road, and there's a guy with a pick-up standing beside the road. I'm not a hunter, but I know what a .22 sounds like - so I yell "what's going on?" He

quickly gets back into his truck and drives away. Rick and I get the flashlight and walk down, and there's a freshly killed doe about 5 feet off the road.

Rick figures she'd been hit by a car and this guy put her out of her misery. But I called my neighbor to see if something should be done with the carcass (since they're a hunting family and know these things), and she said I'd need to call the sheriff to come and tag the body before anyone could take it. And when I called the sheriff, they got all excited about someone discharging a firearm and deer being killed out of season (no matter what the circumstances) and did I get the license plate (in deep country night, with the rear lights of the truck shining at me from 1/8 mile away) and "We'll have a deputy out there in 5 minutes" - which they did. Rick still figures it was the humane thing for someone to do, and the sheriff was getting over-excited. Personally, I'm reserving judgment, as I'm never a fan of strangers discharging firearms in the dark right outside my house, even assuming competence and positive intent.

The Beauty of the Season

Rick is on his way to Minnesota to retrieve the other Grand Am, so he and Luc can try to get a new set of wheels going for Luc. I was driving Tasha to her early class this morning, when white smoke started pouring out of my tailpipe and hood scoop. I called Rick, who remotely diagnosed a coolant leak. (House has got nothing on him.) Watching the heat gauge, I headed back home, picked up Luc, and headed to the gas station. Popped the hood, and sure enough the coolant reservoir was empty. At Rick's advice, we filled it up and then watched under the car.

Drip, drip, drip.

Luc has got to get to (1) morning high school classes; (2) afternoon college class; and (3) work - also, I have to get home from work and Tasha has to be picked up from play practice. So the strategy we've worked out is that most of a can of coolant is in the back of the car. Luc or I will check the reservoir every time the car gets started up, and we will fill it if it is below half - full. And obviously, we will watch the gauge like a hawk and only make those few necessary trips before parking the car at home. Rick will be back from Minnesota late tonight or early tomorrow, so we will have more options by then on how to get people where they need to go while he replaces whatever plastic part cracked in the cold weather.

But the green antifreeze puddle does look pretty against the snow.

Duke's Demise

First of all, Luc is fine. We had some weather yesterday (surprise!) and his car door was frozen shut, so by the time he got it open he was running late for school. He called me a few minutes later to say that he'd wrecked his car, but he "was only going about 40" on this ice-covered turn. He skidded out of control, spun, and then hit a semi truck on the driver's side right behind the door.

Duke is totalled, obviously. The truck, on the other hand, has a cracked battery box and a slightly bent conduit of some sort on the undercarriage. State Farm says if the total damage to the truck is less than $750, it won't affect our rates. I've got my fingers crossed.

To be fair, at least 4 other cars skidded into the ditch while we were getting Luc's paperwork from the cops and waiting for the tow truck. There was no safe speed on this road - the cop almost fell down just trying to walk between his car and mine.

But Duke is dead, and now we have to figure out how Luc is going to get between high school and his college class - not to mention his job. Anybody got a cheap car for sale?

I Appreciate You, Honey

I have a basic understanding of welding and the effort that goes into transforming a wreck to a restored automotive work of art. I just don't find the individual steps of the process fascinating - and the garage workshop is usually too cold and too dusty for me to be comfortable spending a lot of time in it. But Rick is feeling very inspired about getting a VW Beetle on the road for me by Summer, and the rag-top sunroof has been a major component of that effort. He was actually bouncing with frustration yesterday when out of politeness he spent his afternoon on a different project.


So, since he wants some recognition and appreciation, here are pictures of progress to date. You'll notice he's welded a new tail section onto the body. The big square thing is the sunroof section, and he had to open up a bunch of little compartments all around the inside edge, replace hardware and repair sections of rusted metal, and then close them up again. And those rusted bars on the table are actually the struts for the sunroof - lots of work to do there before they are functional again.






Impressive, isn't he? (Timothy the shop rabbit thinks so.)